


Welcome to the 21st Century

by buckybarnes13



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Natasha knows everything at all times, never underestimate Steve Rogers tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-07-11 08:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7039747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckybarnes13/pseuds/buckybarnes13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks when he knows them all already.</p><p>In which the entire team thinks Steve is technologically incompetent but he spectacularly proves them otherwise. Besides, you’re never too old to learn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the prompt: http://tinyurl.com/steve-and-tech  
> Credits to @protectbuckybarnesatallcosts on Tumblr who named the fic!

“STEVE ROGERS!” Tony hollered at the top of his lungs, utterly exasperated with the Avengers’ normally infallible team captain. 

“Yes, Tony?” Steve looked up from his state of the art StarkPad with an innocent, beguiling expression on his face. 

“Steve. I don’t get it, are you trying to kill me? God, please tell me you are because I can’t take this torture anymore. Dad said that all of you got enhanced, including your brain so how is it possible for, I can’t be— JARVIS, call a Code Spangles and send the rest of the team down to the lab. Even I can’t handle this on my own anymore,” Tony somehow managed to splutter out in his agonized, frenzied state.

While Tony was distracted, however, he seemed to have missed the mischievous glint in Steve’s normally clear blue eyes and the ever so slight upturn of his lips.

______

“Are you kidding me, Stark?” Bucky grumbled with a sour expression. “I was in the middle of training with Nat when your dumb ass called us in. This better be important because I nearly had her pinned.” 

“In your wildest dreams, Barnes,” Natasha rebutted airily, although she winced minutely as she fluidly sat down on one of Tony’s lab stools. 

“I saw that wince, милый.” 

“What wince? Did you see a wince, Clint?” 

“Aw, hell no guys, don’t involve me in your weird foreplay,” Clint groaned, clutching his pot of black coffee like it was his firstborn. 

Steve laughed silently as Bucky moved to deck Clint with a well-aimed punch to the head. To no one’s surprise, the pair started bickering like children, trying to smack each other but defend themselves—or in Clint’s case, defend his coffee pot—while the rest of the team looked on amusedly.

“Yeah Tony, what’s a Code Spangles? I’ve never heard of that one before,” Bruce inquired.

“Never mind the damn code name, did you all know that our resident Capsicle here is the most technologically inept person I’ve ever known in my entire life? I’d understand if you were a little slow on the uptake, but my god Steve, you’re single-handedly destroying my will to live. I am a billionaire industrialist, child prodigy, and chairman of a multinational tech conglomerate and you make me want to weep and possibly—” Tony rambled on without showing any signs of stopping.

“Okay, slow down there Tiger, what did Steve do this time?” Clint interrupted.

“HE CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE GOOGLE SEARCH OR THE ENTER KEY.” Tony tugged at his dark hair in a crazed manner.

The rest of the team seemed to groan in unison. Steven Grant Rogers: renowned superhero, master tactician, and Captain America, yet somehow painfully unable to figure out how to turn the TV on or use a toaster. 

Tony had been tasked, against his will, with familiarizing Steve with all the technology that the 21st century had to offer. In truth, the team ganged up on him since he liked to brag about the superiority of Stark technology and unanimously decided that the logical conclusion was that Tony was the “most qualified” to help. Naively hopeful, Tony thought that it couldn't be too impossible of a task but was quickly proven wrong when Steve demonstrated clear and utter hopelessness.

Except, only Natasha knew better. Not much got past her sharp, calculating gaze and she would swear on her favourite thigh holster that Steve was less clueless than he was letting on. What she couldn’t put her finger on, however, was his reason for pretending like he was. Still, Natasha was impressed with his acting skills, which seem to have improved drastically since the DC Apple Store fiasco.

“Did he snap the enter key off again? Because that’s what he did when I tried helping him last week,” Clint muttered. 

“No Birdbrain, you should see him try to search something. No matter what I say, he calls Google ma’am and types a detailed paragraph every time he needs to look something up,” Tony groaned, dragging his hand down his face. “He asked me if he could Google the location of the blue shirt he lost when he did laundry yesterday.” 

“Jesus. Remember when I tried to teach him how to use the microwave to make popcorn for movie night and he blew it up? Actually, wait, that’s happened 4 times already.”

“FOUR times? JARVIS why did you only tell me about the first two times it happened?” 

“I thought it would be more conductive to your physical and mental well being if I spared you the gory details, sir,” JARVIS quipped back with his customary dry wit.

Tony sighed again. And then he remembered why he called the team down in the first place.

“Right, so I clearly can’t deal with this problem on my own, no matter how much all of you want me to. Executive decision made by me, you all have to chip in and help the old man get used to the 21st century. No complaints, since I feed, clothe, and arm all of you. My tower, my rules!” 

“I’m sitting right here, you know,” Steve said plaintively. 

“We know. You’re kind of hard to miss nowadays, punk,” Bucky responded in kind, making Natasha smirk and turn towards Steve with one eyebrow slightly raised. She would have to corner him later to get to the bottom of this.

“It’s not my fault that everything is just so gosh-darned complicated nowadays. In the 40’s we didn’t have any new fangled metal devices that warmed our bread up, we just ate it cold. Nobody had computers or tablets, either. We wrote everything by hand or sent things by telegram, the good old fashioned way. The problem with 2016 is that there are unnecessary bells and whistles added on to everything. How do you even use Netflix to chill?” Steve passionately dissented with increasingly dramatic hand gestures.

“Okay, Cap, I’m going to stop you right there before you put me into cardiac arrest. So, as I was saying, before Mr. America here so rudely interrupted me, everyone has to teach Steve something about technology or the 21st century once a week. Meeting adjourned!” Tony said cheerfully, fingers tapping with dexterity at his holographic keyboard to establish a schedule.

Nobody but Natasha noticed the gleeful expression on Steve’s face before he quickly turned to exit the lab.

______

Steve could barely choke back his laughter as he left and headed towards the elevators. Sure, he had been a little lost with technology and the modern world in the beginning but he was adaptable and very eager to learn. In fact, he had easily caught up to almost everything he needed to since waking up from the ice. It didn't take him long to warm up to the idea of the Internet and social media. He thought that it was annoying at times but he also saw the benefits. The YouTube channel, however, was a spur of the moment type of thing. He was trying to create a Google account when JARVIS had helpfully explained what YouTube was for. If Steve was being completely honest, out of everything he’d encountered so far, JARVIS was the most shocking. Modern household appliances and GPS navigation he could get used to, but they really didn’t have a precedent for omnipresent artificial intelligence watching over their homes in the 40’s.

“Captain Rogers, we have arrived on your floor,” JARVIS reminded him politely.

“Oh, thank you JARVIS. And thank you again for not telling Tony anything about what we’re doing.” 

“Of course, sir. I at times also wish to put Sir in his place. For his own good, of course, ” said JARVIS with a hint of playfulness.

Steve swore up and down that JARVIS was completely capable of taking over the entire world overnight without anyone even finding out until it had already happened.

“Thank you Captain, I shall take that as a compliment.”

“Sorry JARVIS, I did mean it as one,” Steve said with an embarrassed smile, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly for saying something out loud that he didn’t mean to. 

So without the help of JARVIS, none of this would have been possible, really. Steve had never found a use for YouTube beyond its plethora of music videos that Sam had forced him to watch or the occasional viral video— and okay, full disclosure, he was slightly obsessed with cute puppy videos. 

It was only after the thousandth time that Tony poked fun at him about his apparent ineptitude that JARVIS had quietly suggested the idea of pretending to be increasingly unskilled in navigating the 21st century and filming the team's frustrations to upload for the public's enjoyment. Steve had brightened up considerably and immediately jumped on the idea.

And now here they were. Steve and JARVIS: partners in crime. He couldn't believe the golden opportunity he had been given today. A schedule! Now he could easily upload a video a day. Honestly, the hardest part of it all was keeping a straight face every time he had to purposely blow something up or watch a teammate go over the edge with aggravation. He swears that Natasha sees through his act but she has yet to say anything about it. Hopefully, no one else suspects anything about his grand prank other than Bucky, who knows him much too well for lying to him to even be a viable possibility.

Steve, while rummaging around in the kitchen, peeked at Tony's schedule to find out who his next victim was and saw that Clint was on his itinerary tomorrow after training. He picked up a plum and bit into it, chewing thoughtfully. His subscribers would surely love that, wouldn't they? Clint always got him a lot of views but he found that Tony, without fail, would invariably get him the most. He would have to masterfully plan his attack for tomorrow in order to get Clint back for his sass today. Steve grinned with anticipation as he finished off his snack. Clint wouldn’t know what hit him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The widow and the soldier join Steve's elite team, and the Captain himself procures a valuable object.
> 
> Tony's precious Captain America Education Program is slightly put on hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BRINGING THIS FIC BACK FROM THE DEAD (kinda)
> 
> sort of an in-between chapter until i get the ideas flowing again! hope y'all like it :)  
> (don't mind me, posting something i wrote in a fit of vague inspiration 10 months later)
> 
> (pls don't kill me)

“10 bucks says Clint doesn’t last more than 30 minutes.”

“20.”

“Deal,” Bucky said as he gave Natasha’s hand a firm shake.

Steve rounded the corner to the team’s shared kitchen and suspiciously squinted at the sight before him.

“What are you two up to so early in the morning?” he questioned. 

“Nothing, Stevie, we’re just making a bet on a poor unfortunate soul who doesn’t know what’s going to hit him in about an hour,” Bucky said with a smirk.

“I wonder if JARVIS is any good at editing videos—what do you think, Bucky? I have some training footage I want to put on YouTube and no idea how to operate Final Cut Pro,” Nat said mischievously as she mirrored Bucky’s expression.

Steve immediately perked up and got out of his chair.

“I knew it! I knew you two were onto me! Who figured it out first?” Steve said with a grin. 

“Well don’t look so sad about us finding out your secret, jeez pal,” Bucky coughed out with a laugh. 

“To be fair, I think both of us knew something was up when you started pretending like the microwave was possessed by a Nazi spirit from the 40’s coming to haunt your patriotic ass.”

“Oh, yeah I thought that one was a little too much as well,” Steve muttered with a boyish grin. 

“We’re both trained soviet spies but frankly I’m just surprised that no one else has figured it out yet,” Natasha chuckled.

Steve thought about his situation for a second and was quite pleased. Out of everybody, he was glad that these two figured his grand prank out. They were reliable, cunning, mischievous, and then the thought occurred to him—

“Guys! You have to help me! If all three of us teamed up, the rest of the team wouldn’t stand a chance,” Steve exclaimed in a serious, hushed tone. 

“What the hell, I’m in,” Bucky shrugged with a half-smile.

“Count me in too, Rogers,” Natasha said as she jokingly saluted Steve after pretending to seriously mull over the decision for a minute.

“Fantastic! You guys won’t regret it, I promise. I’ll deal with Clint today, but I might need one of you to mess with the training room set-up or the controls. I have something really important I need help with later, but it’s got to wait! I need to go find Clint now,” Steve grinned and turned to head towards the training rooms. 

“Was he born this crazy, or?” Natasha delicately raised an eyebrow as she watched Steve hurry out the door.

“Doll, he’s been this crazy since 1918,” Bucky shook his head fondly and took a gulp out of his coffee cup.

 

_______________

 

As Steve was waiting for the elevator to arrive, he absently rubbed at his sore bicep. He was slightly worse for wear after his pseudo-adventure last night but he that thought it was well worth it.

Steve had done it. After several days of intense, strategic planning, he had done it. 

He managed to sneak the newest iPhone model into Avengers Tower right under Tony and JARVIS’ noses and had gotten away with it relatively unscathed. By that he meant that scaling the north side of the tower to sneak into the Iron Legion service entrance was no small feat.

Although he ended up with some nasty, purpling bruises, Steve still succeeded with the plan. He had an iPhone! Tony was going to murder him and bring him back to life in order to murder him all over again.

Tony was hellbent on every inhabitant of the tower using nothing but Stark Tech at all times. Stark Phones, Stark Pads, Stark Televisions— there wasn’t a thing on Earth that Tony couldn’t build and perfect. Their training simulators, quinjets, heck, the entire tower they lived in was built and designed by him. Steve was immensely grateful to Tony, of course, but he was curious about things that normal people used, like Siri for instance. 

Was Siri like JARVIS? Could Siri help with daily tasks like JARVIS could or was she just a gimmick? Steve was thinking of making a video series called “Cap Tested” where he could try new things and decide for his viewers if the result was “Cap Approved” or not. 

Regardless, Steve thought that he’d better lay low for a bit and make sure Tony really didn’t notice. He would be pushing his luck if he tried to tinker with the contraband now. Plus, he was a man on a mission, and his current mission objective was to find and mess with Clint. 

As the elevator signalled its arrival at Clint’s floor, the doors opened to show an exuberant Clint, fiddling around with a couple of spare arrowheads as he moved to get in beside Steve.

“Morning, Cap!” Clint called out between his cheerful whistling rendition of Beyoncé’s critically acclaimed track “Single Ladies”.

“Mornin’ Clint, is that Beyoncé again?” 

“Yes!” Clint pumped his fist in the air and hollered with happiness. “If there’s only one thing that’s gotten through that thick skull of yours, I’m proud for it to be Beyoncé,” he goofily exclaimed as he pressed the button for Tony’s labs. 

“Why are you so peppy this early in the morning, anyway? Aren’t you the one who’s usually approaching death and keeling over sideways across the kitchen table?” Steve countered with a dry smile on his face. 

“Coffee, bro. Two pots. Dark roast. Black.” Clint said with an almost dreamy look on his face.

“Right. I should’ve known.”

Steve sighed. Clint had an unhealthy caffeine addiction and everyone knew it, yet no one was brave enough to try and stop him.

The elevator slowed to a stop and beeped to signal its arrival.

“Well, this is me, sorry Cap. Our training’s gotta wait because Tony’s got me testing some of his new training simulations that he’s been working on. They’re personally customized for each of us to fit our skill sets and all that crap,” Clint nodded at Steve as he backed out of the elevator with a skip in his step, “Catch ya later, Cap! I’ll teach you all about memes later!” 

“What? Mee-mees?” Steve shouted out at Clint as the elevator doors started to close. All he received in response was a jaunty wave of Clint’s hand in his general direction.

 

_______________

 

Clint showed up a couple hours later, a little dinged up, but in good spirits. 

“Cap! There you are. Just wait till you see what Tony’s cooked up for us. It’s been a long time since I’ve been challenged by a training simulation.”

Steve looked up from his book and seemed a little surprised to see Clint in front of him. 

“What time is it?” Steve grumbled with an air of confusion.

“It’s almost dinner, actually, we should probably get going before Tony starts lecturing us on ruining team bonding time,” Clint said with a little urgency.

“You’re right. I can’t stand it when he gets all sanctimonious on us. Better hurry,” Steve said as he sprinted out of the room, leaving Clint in the dust.

“Aw, Steve, no,” Clint huffed as he ran as fast as he could after the super soldier.

 

_______________

 

“Team bonding dinner” goes about as well as it sounds like it ever could, with Tony heavily reminding Clint about the fact that he hasn't taught Steve anything new today yet—to which Clint easily rebuts by complaining that it’s actually Tony’s fault since he kept him in the labs all day like a slave driver.

Tony sputters and manages to take control of the situation by ganging up on Clint and Steve with the help of Bucky, of all people, who has a distinctly mischievous glint in his eye.

Steve stops paying attention after 3 minutes of Tony’s rambling and decides that it’s a good thing that they didn’t get around to Clint yet since he has Nat and Buck to scheme with now.

He decides to call them to his kitchen later so they can come up with something better than electrocuting Clint with his own training arrows. His goal is still to hatch an elaborate plan to surpass Tony’s usual video view count. 

With Nat and Buck on his side, however, he’s beginning to feel a lot more confident in their chances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, and i'm so sorry for not updating—ohhhh man. school's been utterly crazy, and i've managed to forget about this ridiculously fun plot bunny i had in the summer :(
> 
> as you can tell, it's been almost a damn year since i posted the first chapter and i have no idea who's still interested in this little fic but i got hit with the realization that i should really crank something out to test the waters!
> 
> let me know what you think, or if you have any ideas that you want to see happen, the story and characters are still dear to my heart so i'd welcome any sort of feedback that'll get me inspired to write again :)


End file.
